​You can automate nearly any aspect of your online business. Once you get started looking at automation options, it's pretty incredible what you can do. But there's one area of online marketing that's essential and usually time consuming - content creation. Can you automate content creation?

The simple answer is, "Yes."

But here's a more important question: "Can you automate content creation and still produce content that's unique and valuable to your readers?"

It's not so easy to answer this one, but the answer is, "No, but there are some really great automation shortcuts."

Why You Can't Completely Automate (Good) Content Creation

You can't automate content creation totally because there simply is no software program that can produce unique, original writing. A human being needs to come up with ideas and create content. There are automated programs that "scrape" content or can curate content, but they can't produce anything original.

So, content creation is something someone will always have to do. However, there are some handy automation tools that can help you make the process quicker and easier. Here is a list of some of the content automation you can use.

Generating Ideas. There are automated tools that help you come up with topics or titles for your work. You can enter keywords and the program will generate a list of ideas to inspire you. You can also use keyword alert programs to search for ideas on social media or elsewhere.

Typing. If you're a slow typist or you find it to be a pain, there is voice recognition software that does the typing for you. All you need to do is speak into the microphone and the program does the rest. You only have to read through it later and fix any mistakes.

Grammar Check and Tightening Up. Like your Word program's spellcheck, there are automated programs that can find and eliminate mistakes for you. Some programs help you tighten up and clean up by directing your attention to run-on sentences or awkward word usages.

Checking for Plagiarism. How do you know if your content is completely original? One way is to check online to see if it has been plagiarized. There are automated programs that scour the web for your text or portions of it.

Repurposing. Automated tools can help you with repurposing content. You can take articles you've already written and cut them up to be re-used as social media posts or some other type of content.

Content Management. Content management systems (CMS) are systems where you can create, edit, organize and publish your content all in one place. These programs offer many automation features to make your life easier.

Outsourcing Websites. Finally, if you really don't want to deal with content creation, you can hire someone else to do it through an outsourcing website that offers automated features for hiring and managing workers.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. There are many more programs available for helping you automate content creation and make it a breeze.